Jay-Z - American Gangster

CD Review

CD Review

January 04, 2008|JENNIFER ELLIS five7four.com

TRACK LIST 1. Intro 2. Pray 3. American Dreamin' 4. Hello Brooklyn 2.0 5. No Hook 6. Roc Boys (And the Winner Is) 7. Sweet 8. I Know 9. Party Life 10. Ignorant 11. Say Hello 12. Success 13. Fallin' 14. Blue Magic 15. American Gangster MY THOUGHTS I used to hate Jay-Z's music. I thought his raps were too hard core, too violent, too - gangster I guess. But the more I've listened to his music, actually heard what he was saying, the more I could appreciate it. Now, I think of him as one of the best rappers out there. He's right up there with Tupac. That being said, I'll admit I don't know much about reviewing rap music. But I thought this customer review would be helpful: "This was creative, genius even. Jay-Z puts out an album, Kingdom Come, that isn't well-received by his traditional constituents. Their problem? Jay-Z has gone "soft," he's rapping about his wealth, his opulent lifestyle rather than spitting the obligatory lyrics about the dope game and the corner, muses that simply aren't part of his life anymore. How can he reconcile being true to himself with giving the streets what they want? Create an entirely new genre: The concept album. Sort of a portal through which an artist can exist in an alternate reality. In one brilliant move Jay-Z neutralized his prior detractors and avoided accusations that he's drawing on a culture he's no longer a part of. After all, American Gangster isn't about Jay-Z, or is it? Make no mistake, musically this isn't Black Album 2. American Gangster is clearly a compromise between the lyrics that the fans demand and the music that Jay appreciates. Gone are the hard-hitting beats of Dirt off Your Shoulder and Lucifer, replaced by an ensemble of horns and strings. In fact, half the tracks wouldn't seem out of place on a Kanye West album. Pray and Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...) clearly demonstrate the trend. The effect is slightly startling but not unwelcome. Akin to Kingdom Come, the beats of American Gangster show a maturity, a refinement that's not in the Black Album. Which is most appropriate is up for debate. The lyrics however, are vintage Jay. He hits especially hard on No Hook (Hustle' 'cane, hustle clothes or hustle music/ But hustle hard in any hustle that you pick) and Pray (Treat shame with shamelessness/ Aim stainlesses at _____ , You know the game this is/ Move coke like Pepsi, Don't matter what the brand name is). He slows it down to a lounge tempo on tracks such as I Know featuring Pharrell and Party Life. The guest appearances are especially noteworthy. The Jay/Nas collaboration on Success is brimming with artistic ingenuity, if not commercial viability. Freeway's short interjection on Ignorant ____ perfectly compliments Jay's flow. Most interesting is the much-hyped Lil' Wayne cameo on Hello Brooklyn 2.0, where Jay lyrically eviscerates Weezy, perhaps the track's true motive? But the question remains, is the Jay-Z of American Gangster on par with the Jay-Z of the Black Album? Perhaps the best barometer is the resurrected track Ignorant ____ which features bars from both 2003 and 2007, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the younger Jay comes out on top. In short, American Gangster should please the critics and the streets. It's an effort on par with The Blueprint and just shy of 2003's masterpiece. The album proves that Jay is at his best when he has something to prove, here's hoping that he doesn't fall victim to complacency for his next project. After an impressive premiere, where does the concept album go from here? Clearly there's a danger that it could become a standard marketing tool in the wrong hands, and if Jay really connects with the next Potter flick, we could be subjected to bars about hustlin' at Hogwarts. However in moderation, it might provide for an interesting departure for rappers who are afraid of stepping outside the bounds of what is considered acceptable in rap culture. American Gangster may go down in history as something of a paradox, it could mark a return to street-culture for Jay-Z and at the same time symbolize something much broader: An expansion of rhythm and poetry beyond the block and into uncharted territory." Read this review and more like it here at Amazon.com